£70k-p/w Spurs star was worse than Werner vs Man United

Tottenham Hotspur came from behind twice to secure a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford against Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.

Ange Postecoglou had the likes of James Maddison, Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr, and Manor Solomon, among others, unavailable for selection but still mustered up an impressive performance.

Goals from Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur after Rasmus Hojlund and Marcus Rashford put the hosts 1-0 and 2-1 up helped the side to avoid defeat in Manchester.

However, it could have been better for Spurs if they had taken advantage of the situations that their excellent build-up play allowed them to create.

There was plenty of space in the wide area but Brennan Johnson, in particular, struggled and was worse than Timo Werner, who made his debut on the left.

Timo Werner’s key contribution against Manchester United

The Germany international joined on loan from RB Leipzig earlier this month and was thrown straight in at the deep end with 80 minutes of action at Old Trafford.

It was far from a perfect debut for the former Chelsea man, however, as he wasted two good opportunities to work Andre Onana in the United goal during the first half.

He blazed the ball well over the bar from the edge of the box under no pressure and, minutes later, dragged a low shot wide of the goalkeeper’s left post after working his way into the penalty area.

Werner, who completed 91% of his attempted passes, did provide a crucial contribution shortly after the half-time break, though. The forward intelligently cut inside from the left wing and slipped a sharp pass through to Bentancur, who was then able to rifle the ball in to make it 2-2.

Brennan Johnson’s lightweight showing at Old Trafford

Meanwhile, Johnson lined up on the opposite flank and failed to grasp his opportunity to catch the eye in a huge game, despite being on the pitch for 96 minutes.

The former Nottingham Forest attacker was ineffective in his actions in and out of possession for Spurs and looked reluctant to get forward and attack Aaron Wan-Bissaka at times.

Johnson failed in all three of his attempted dribbles throughout the match and lost 60% (6/10) of his duels in total, which shows that United’s players found it too easy to get the better of the Spurs lightweight in physical contests.

The £70k-per-week Wales international, who lost possession of the ball 14 times, only created one chance for his teammates in 96 minutes, which was worth 0.05 xG. Essentially, the shooter would be expected to score one in 20 attempts from that opportunity.

During the first half, he was released down the right channel and had an opening to slide the ball across the box for Richarlison, who got ahead of his marker, but blazed a cross well over the Brazil international’s head. What made matters even worse was that he had fewer touches (43) than even goalkeeper Vicario.

Gary Neville, who was the co-commentator on the game for Sky Sports, described it as “disappointing” from the 22-year-old forward, which summed up his performance in general.

Therefore, Johnson was worse than Werner, who was on his debut and played for the first time since the 13th of December, as did not have an influential impact on the match, on or off the ball.